From Society to Landscape: Alternative Metaphors for Artificial Intelligence

David M. West, Larry E. Travis

Abstract

This article picks up the call for a reflective examination of the prevailing computational metaphor of AI (and philosophical presuppositions behind it) by sketching alternatives that might serve as seeds for discussion-specifically, the seven alternatives introduced in our previous article (see "AI Magazine, spring 1991). The relative strengths and weaknesses of the alternatives are contrasted with those of the computational metaphor.